One thing about the leaker of U.S. secrets Edward Snowden is that whenever he surfaces he shows his true colors. He’s basically a commie, in the derogatory sense. First, he escapes from Hawaii to Hong Kong, which is part of Communist China. Then he heads for Moscow where he was still holed up as of this writing. He may make it to Ecuador, no friend of the United States, by way of Cuba.

His protests of moral superiority aside, he seems to prefer the red brotherhood to the red, white and blue.

Naturally, he is running because he broke the law — divulging secrets he was sworn, as a government contractor, to protect.

Electronic surveillance has been a useful weapon against terrorism, say the terror-fighters. It is made possible by technological developments and also by our reliance on digital forms of communication and social media. Any expectation of privacy we may have is trumped every time we go on line, use social media or use a cell phone.

Mystery writer Jeffery Deaver in his 2001 novel “The Blue Nowhere,” depicts a world eerily like today’s, in which hackers can access virtually any communication made on the Internet. Buy something in a drug store, and if you use a so-called rewards card with the transaction, that purchase will be recorded under your name. If you are part of a wireless network, someone from the outside can tune in if that person wishes. Even the flushing of a toilet can be noted. It’s like today.

So Snowden’s revelations weren’t all that revelatory. To cast himself in the light of some sort of hero seems ridiculous. He’s just a common commie spy who tried to do his own country harm.

President Obama’s assertions that Snowden’s disclosures didn’t do that much harm probably are correct.

The barn door that used to shelter our privacy has been open for quite a while now. In practice, we don’t seem to care.